


Dante learns to read

by ValkyrieShepard



Series: Nephilim Family [10]
Category: DmC: Devil May Cry
Genre: Incest, M/M, Twincest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-05
Updated: 2014-09-11
Packaged: 2018-02-16 05:51:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2258193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValkyrieShepard/pseuds/ValkyrieShepard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dante had never had much use for reading, not with the way he had grown up. But things were different now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for badly written smut, I try to practice to get better.

Dante was watching his brother cleaning his sword. He almost loved it as much as his brother did. Simply seeing those careful, perfectly guided motions of Vergil’s hands, wiping along the blade made Dante think of those many other things those hands could do.

Licking his lips, he settled on a chair behind Vergil, that way he could see, but his brother wouldn’t be bothered. Not that he’d notice. Vergil was in his own little world right now.

Cleaning and handling his sword at the same time was basically heaven for his brother, so he knew not to bother him right now. Though Vergil’s motions were precise, they were never automatic, he’d always handle Yamato so… gently.

Dante might even be a tiny bit jealous of that sword sometimes. Though he would never admit it, of course. Plus, there were other things Vergil did only to him…

 

A pleasant shudder ran down Dante’s spine when his thoughts were interrupted by Nero, who was safely playing with dinosaur toys in his playpen. He had thrown his T-Rex into a corner and was angrily looking at Dante. He’d hardly ever cry, sure he did it from time to time, but mostly he would make upset noises, as if he were offended none of his fathers were paying attention to him, as he did right now.

 

“I think he’s hungry”, Vergil said, surprising his brother by actually noticing something besides his sword. “Could you make him something?”

 

Oh damn.

 

Dante slowly got up, edging away from the kitchen door.

 

“I was just… going to the store. We need”, _think, Dante, think_. “We need… more diapers. We’re almost out.”

 

Vergil looked up at him. That wasn’t good.

 

“No, we’re not.”

 

He had that look on him. That intense gaze that went right through Dante, exposing every little secret he ever had. Or that’s what it felt like. There were thankfully some things Vergil did not yet know about him.

 

“Well there was _something_ we needed, I’ll remember when I’m at the store.”

 

Dante was almost to the door, keys in hand, when he felt Vergil’s hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see Yamato on the coffee table, only halfway cleaned. Shit, he wouldn’t be able to get out of this.

 

“What’s wrong, Dante? You’ve never made him formula before.”

 

Oh so he had noticed? Of course he had. It had to get out some time. But why like this? He wasn’t prepared for this.

Dante was fumbling with the keys, not making eye contact. In his playpen, Nero got more and more agitated, though he seemed to sense something was wrong. The light from his Devil Bringer was flickering nervously.

 

“I just…”, he couldn’t say it. How could he admit to something so embarrassing? To his brother, the genius?

 

“Dante? You can tell me anything. You know that.” It wasn’t even a question. Just a reminder, because of course it was true.

 

He twisted out of Vergil’s grip. If he did this, he couldn’t look at him, his ears were already burning. He probably looked ridiculous.

 

“I… I looked at the instructions for the formula and…”, he hesitated and walked over to the couch, resting his hands on the back. “It has some… really big words and I just… I can’t…”

 

He felt and heard Vergil moving closer, but he couldn’t handle his touch right now. He knew his brother would laugh at him, or worse, pity him.

Vergil stopped as Dante moved further away, understanding this was not the time for touch.

 

“Dante? Can you read?” There was nothing in voice, no amusement, no pity, it was just… Vergil. But he had always been an expert in hiding his true thoughts, which he was surely doing now.

 

“I know… a bit. Enough to get by”, he huffed. “Until now.”

 

Dante crossed his arms, trying to protect himself from the consequences of finally saying it out loud.

 

“I’ll show you”, Vergil passed by him, walking into the kitchen and getting all the utensils he needed to prepare the formula. No comment, nothing. “Come on, it’s not hard.”

 

He was grateful, so grateful for Vergil not saying anything right now. He didn’t even know how he wanted Vergil to react, but if there was one person who could understand that, it was his brother. For now they busied themselves making the formula, Vergil explaining step by step what needed to be done, and Dante executed it. He had always been better at learning something if he did it himself. It was only his fear of admitting he couldn’t read well that had stopped him from asking Vergil for help with this.

 

His brother only addressed it again when Dante was cradling and feeding Nero. Dante couldn’t run away like this. _Vergil you sneaky bastard._

 

“I can teach you”, he simply said.

 

Dante’s gaze was fixed on Nero, who had grasped the bottle, his demonic arm clinking against the glass.

 

“Why bother? It’s just extra work for you.”

 

Nero kicked his legs, making Dante smile.

 

“I’ll gladly do it. And if you don’t want to do it for yourself… do it for Nero.”

 

Fuck.

 

If he thought this was embarrassing, it would be a million times worse if he had to explain to his son why he couldn’t help with his homework. Why he didn’t understand what they were talking about in class. Vergil was right. _Dammit why was he always right?_

 

Dante finally looked up at his brother again, there was still nothing there to make him scared and a small voice inside scolded him for not saying anything sooner. Of course he would understand. Of course he would help.

 

“This is gonna suck, isn’t it?”, Dante sighed.

 

“Hm, I was thinking about some sort of… reward program. If you do well.” Vergil’s expression was still completely neutral, but suddenly Dante sat straight up, cocking an eyebrow at his brother.

 

“Would this… perchance… be some sort of _sexy_ reward program?”

 

“I was thinking about food…”, Vergil started and Dante sighed. “... combined with a sexy reward program.”

 

And now his brother was grinning in what he could only describe as a Dante-way. What a cocky bastard. But maybe… maybe this wouldn’t be too bad.

 

“We could do it in the evening, once Nero is asleep. Every evening”, Vergil held up a hand before Dante could protest. “It’s important to practice regularly. We are not that busy at the moment so we should take this opportunity while we can….”

 

“What?”, Dante frowned at the odd look Vergil was suddenly giving him.

 

“Is that why you never played that game I gave you?”

 

Dante blushed. He tried to will the blood to rush in any other direction but there. He just did not want Vergil to know how much this bothered him.

 

“I… It was nothing _but_ text… Plus it looked really boring.”

 

By now Nero had finished drinking his formula and Dante shifted him so his head was slightly above his shoulder. He stood, rocking his son back and forth a little, patting his back to try and induce a burp.

 

“Sorry, I was just told it was good. But that could be your goal. If you want to give it another try.”

 

Nero burped and Dante stopped his movements, gently stroking the little one’s back.

 

“Yeah sure…”, he sought Vergil’s gaze again. “So what would we start with? Children’s books?”

 

“If you’re comfortable with that, maybe. To see what you can already do, and I imagine they could be an easy start. That’s what they’re there for, after all.”

 

“Fuuuu”, Dante glanced at Nero. “uuunn times ahead.” He finished lamely. Nero let out the most adorable yawn, making a grin spread on Dante’s face, despite the situation. He gently laid their son into his crib, brushing through his white hair before rejoining Vergil.

 

Vergil was finishing cleaning his sword, so Dante resigned himself to watching his brother for the moment.

He really never had a lot of trouble, not really being able to read a lot, not with the way he had grown up. You don’t really need to learn the alphabet to steal someone’s wallet… It really had only become an issue once he had met Vergil. Mostly because… he did not want to let him down. His greatest fear had been to see disappointment in Vergil’s eyes.

But nothing like that had happened.

 

Vergil was just finishing up cleaning Yamato, slowly sliding it back into its scabbard before getting up and gently placing it in its place - now with Nero there, high up on the wall. When he returned, he was holding one of Nero’s books, making Dante slide down in his seat, covering his face with his hands.

 

“Dante…”, Vergil sat down close to his brother, sliding an arm around his shoulders. “It’s an easy start. Read this and… there will be a reward.”

 

Dante spread his fingers to look at Vergil.

 

“Damn it, you know me too well!” He sharply grasped the book to rip it from his brother’s hands. “Pi...rate Pat?”

 

“You’re the one who likes Pirates.”

 

“Fine…” Dante took a deep breath and opened to book, looking at the first page. It depicted a family and their dog, a pirate ship picture hanging on the wall. “T… The nig- night was cold, t… the sky was black, the… window rat… rattled.”

 

Heat was rising into his cheeks once more as he turned the page. He had to remind himself why he was doing this, for Nero, for their son. His breathing was a little shaky and he gripped the book tighter, trying to hide his shaking hands. He could feel Vergil’s eyes burning into him.

 

“Very good. Keep going”, Vergil leaned down to press a kiss to the crook of Dante’s neck, making him shudder. Oh, Vergil knew how sensitive that spot was to Dante, and how much he loved to be kissed there. Apparently the rewards program was already in effect.

 

So Dante forced himself to keep going, earning a kiss after every page. It was very slow progress, and Vergil had to help him out a few times but eventually he finished the story of Pat the Pirate. Though he couldn’t really say what had happened, as he was forced to concentrate on each word at a time. It was incredibly frustrating to Dante, but he supposed it would entail hard work. He was glad his brother was there.  

 

Vergil gently took the book out of Dante’s hands, putting it down on the coffee table. Dante’s hands were sweaty, and he had to wipe them off on his pants, he also was very sure his head was about the colour of a tomato.

 

“You did well”, his brother said as he turned back towards Dante. He slid into his lap, something Dante usually did. “I think you mostly need to practice.” His hands brushed through Dante’s hair, coming to rest on his neck. “Learn more of the irregular combinations and their pronunciation.” Vergil shifted his hips, grinding against his brother, who had closed his eyes, already gasping.

 

“I think I just forgot everything I ever knew about reading”, Dante mumbled, hands sliding up his brother’s back.

 

“I’ll just have to remind you then.”

 

Dante felt the heat of Vergil’s body fade and he was about to protest when he opened his eyes and saw his brother kneeling in front of him, already undoing his pants. Oh this was a rare treat indeed. If his lessons kept ending like this, he might even look forward to them.

 

He lifted his hips, helping his brother remove his pants, who did so in one swift motion, revealing Dante to be already half hard. Vergil had that effect on him.

 

“You’ll never start wearing underwear, will you?”, Vergil moved closer, settling between Dante’s legs.

 

“Makes things easier.” All his embarrassment from before was forgotten, a cocky grin spreading on his face.

 

Vergil only slightly shook his head, leaning down to grasp his brother’s erection, making Dante take in a sharp breath. That quickly turned into a moan as Vergil slowly dragged his tongue from the base of his cock to the tip.

 

“Quiet, you’ll wake Nero”, Vergil’s breath ghosted against his erection just before he parted his lips to take Dante in, moving lower at a slow and steady pace.

 

“Ah… hngh…”, was all Dante could manage. He had slid down a little, his head resting against the back of the couch so that he could watch his brother going down on him. He wouldn’t want to miss one second of this.

And so he watched his brother move lower, felt the tip of his cock hit the back of Vergil’s throat, amazed that his brother showed no sign of discomfort. And no sign of slowing down either. On the contrary, he was only getting started. Vergil pressed his tongue against Dante’s length as he moved up again, a little faster this time and Dante’s hands came up to grasp his brother’s hair. Not adding any pressure, just feeling the strands between his fingers.

Dante was breathing heavily, working hard on holding back the moans that would normally freely tumble from his lips. One hand grasping the base of Dante’s cock, Vegil increased his speed, his free hand pushing up his brother’s shirt, absently trailing those abs.

A pleasant warmth started to spread through Dante’s body, as he watched Vergil move up and down at a now steady pace. The wetness of his mouth felt perfect, and he never wanted this to stop, but he was close now, and instinctively tightening his hold on Vergil’s hair, who seemed to take the hint. He looked up the meet Dante’s gaze, and seeing those piercing grey eyes sent him over the edge. But Vergil did not slow down or move away, only stopping his movements as Dante finally let out a moan as he came into his brother’s mouth.

Dante let the waves of pleasure roll over him, closing his eyes, concentrating on the sense of pure bliss they induced. He vaguely noticed the loss of warmth from around his cock and opened his eyes to see his brother pulling up his pants.

 

“You’re weird, I love that.” Dante knew this was part of Vergil’s thing to have everything neat and clean. He gladly obliged though, especially after this.

 

“I’m weird because I want you to wear your pants?”, Vergil sat down next to his brother, wiping at the corner of his mouth.

 

“Kind of, yeah”, Dante did as Vergil asked, buttoning up his pants before leaning in to kiss that corner of Vergil’s mouth, tasting himself there. “I think I like this rewards program.”

 

“It’ll get better if you keep being a good student.”

“Better than this?”, Dante leaned against Vergil’s chest, prompting his brother to slide an arm around him. “I’ll be the best student ever.”

 

Vergil grinned before leaning down once more to kiss his brother, letting their tongues meet, spreading that salty taste.

 

“I know you will.”

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

The next weeks were incredibly exhausting for Dante, between juggling their store, the baby and his lessons. Though he expected it wasn’t easy for Vergil either, but in true Vergil-fashion he never let it show.

 

As he had been told, they started to practice every evening after Nero had been put to sleep. First with simple reading and writing exercises, since Dante didn’t have a lot of experience in that department either.

He couldn’t help it, even after a week he was still embarrassed about the whole thing, though Vergil never gave him a reason to be. Dante couldn’t wish for a better teacher. But it was hard for him to catch up on all he had missed, and he got easily frustrated. He gave up frequently, storming out of the store to walk the streets for a while. In the end, he always came back though. There was simply no way he would embarrass Nero once he was old enough to realize his father couldn’t read.

 

Progress was slow, but it was there and though Dante loathed the learning part, the rewards certainly made up for it.

Vergil had put just as much thought into the rewards as he had in the actual teaching. It alternated between Dante’s favourite foods - which Vergil prepared himself - or Dante’s favourite bedroom activities. Though they weren’t necessarily restricted to the bedroom. Sometimes those two things were even combined and Dante had particularly enjoyed licking chocolate off of his brother.

 

Vergil kept challenging him, presenting things Dante was convinced he would never be able to do, but he walked him through it step by step. And in the end, Dante felt good, like he had accomplished something.

 

“I think it’s time”, Vergil said one evening, as he pressed another children’s book into Dante’s hands, who was currently sitting on a pile of cushions with Nero.

 

“I think I can do this by now. I thought you wanted to challenge me.” Dante held out the book for Vergil to take it back. But he wasn’t moving.

 

“I am. Read it to Nero. He’ll love it.”

 

“W- what?”

 

Nero was growing fast, he was already crawling everywhere he could reach, and understood a lot, though his talking was still limited to a few words.

Dante couldn’t do this. He would mess up, and his tiny, adorable son would already realize what a loser his father was.

 

“Vergil… I can’t.” He had lowered his hand now, the book was lying on the floor, only to be picked up by Nero, who started to chew on its corner.

 

Vergil knelt next to them, letting his hand rest on Dante’s neck.

 

“Look at me”, he said, and Dante followed his prompt. “You have been doing amazing progress and this is easy for you. You will be fine, and Nero will enjoy it. I’ll be here, too, if you want me to stay.”

 

As if on cue Nero looked up at them. He seemed to be a bit confused, he was just staring, book still in his mouth.

 

“Da-de!”, he finally said, word muffled by the book. Nero reached up with his demonic arm, his fingers lightly scratching over Dante’s cheek.

 

“You’ll stay?”, Dante asked Vergil, who nodded. “Okay…”

 

Vergil properly settled down now, wrapping an arm around his brother.

 

“How would you like me to read to you, Nero?”, Dante asked. Nero immediately got excited, wobbling up and down in his sitting position. “You’ll have to give me the book though.”

 

Grinning, Nero removed the book from his mouth, a little bit of drool still hanging off of it.

 

“Okay…”, Dante held the book at arms length, wiping the drool off on a pillow. “We will just ignore that you did that…”

 

He took a deep breath, and started to read.

Once more, Vergil had been right. Of course he was, Dante should really know that by now. Though he stumbled over a few words due to his nervousness, most of the book was, as his brother had said, easy. And Nero was delighted, he was so invested in the story, his Devil Bringer’s light flickered as he was worried one of the animals in it had died. Luckily, it was not the case, and Nero looked up at Dante, saying his name with relief. The look he gave him was something akin to _I can’t believe that just happened!_ \- it was such a grown up person look that Dante may or may not have squeed a little. Okay, he did. With Vergil right next to him, there was no point in denying it.

 

“What? He’s cute”, Dante said in his defence when Vergil shot him an amused look.

 

They finished the book all too soon, and Dante realized he really had been enjoying himself. Maybe not as much as Nero, but that level of excitement was hard to top.

 

“Okay, bedtime, little man”, Vergil said, taking the book to put it back on its shelf.

 

“No!”, Nero exclaimed. That was also one of the few words he could say now.

 

“Well if you’re a good boy and go to bed now, maybe your father will read you something else tomorrow?”, Vergil framed it like a question, more directed at Dante than at Nero. The latter sure was excited about those prospects though.

 

“I might”, Dante was smiling, picking up Nero and leading him to his room.

 

“Da-de!”, Nero was hopping up and down in excitement again, and Dante had to fight to keep him in his arms. They didn’t know yet if he had a healing factor similar to theirs, but he certainly didn’t want to find out.

 

“Okay, okay”, Dante was laughing. “Calm down, baby boy. I promise I’ll read to you tomorrow. But only if you go to bed now.”

 

Nero was nodding, and as it so often did, his excitement peaked just before he got really tired, and that point was now. As Dante got him out of his clothes and into his pyjamas, he was already yawning. He pressed a soft kiss to Nero’s forehead before laying him into his crib, gently covering him with his blanket.

“Good night”, he whispered as he saw Nero fighting to keep his eyes open, quickly losing the battle.

 

Dante closed the door as quietly as he could behind him, and turned to see Vergil sitting on the couch, arms crossed, with a smug grin on his face.

 

“Come on”, Dante said. “I know you wanna say it.”

 

Vergil took a deep breath. Oh yes, he also knew how to annoy Dante, though he rarely stooped this low.

 

“I told you, you could do it.”

 

“Wouldn’t be a complete day, without a classic Vergil-I-told-you-so”, Dante got into his favourite seat: Vergil’s lap. He sat down in it sideways, stretching out his legs along the couch. Vergil in turn slid his arm around Dante’s waist, pressing a quick kiss against his neck.

 

“I’m proud of you.”

 

“Shut up”, Dante felt heat rising into his cheeks.

 

“I mean it. I know you don’t believe it, but you have been doing extremely well.”

 

“You’re right, I don’t. But if you want to continue complimenting me, that’s fine. You should say something about my looks next.”

 

Vergil rolled his eyes.

 

“I don’t have to tell you how hot you are.”

 

“But I still like to hear it from you”, Dante started to trail kisses down Vergil’s neck, as far as he could reach. He could never get sick of this.

 

“Ah…”, Vergil closed his eyes, gasping. “You are the hottest person I have ever met. Your ass-” Vergil interrupted himself with a moan escaping his lips. Dante had bitten him.

 

“Yes?”, Dante asked, voice all innocent.

 

Suddenly Vergil grabbed Dante’s wrists, pushing him down onto the couch in one swift motion, pinning his arms above his head. That immediately sent most of Dante’s blood rushing into his crotch.

 

“It’s very fuckeable”, Vergil was grinning devilishly.

 

“Fuck yes”, Dante mumbled to himself. He was getting his reward after all.

 

\---------------------------------------

 

As annoyed as Dante had been in the beginning, a few weeks later he realized that reading… well that could actually be fun.

It started when Vergil had to take care of a job on his own, with Dante staying at the apartment to look after Nero. After their son had fallen asleep and Vergil still hadn’t returned, it didn’t take long for him to get bored. That’s when Vergil’s gift, Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney, caught his eye. Figuring that as Vergil wasn’t there to pressure him - not that he ever did, it was mostly Dante pressuring himself - he might as well give it another try.

He didn’t even notice Vergil coming home hours later, too engrossed was he in the game’s story. He also didn’t notice the big smile on Vergil’s face. His brother saved himself the ‘I told you so’ that night.

 

It kept going like this, Dante started to read more and more, and after Vergil had taught him how to look up words, find out how they were pronounced, his lessons had officially ended. Dante might even have been a little bit sad about that, now he had to do other things to get Vergil to do what he wanted. But he was very good at that...

 

Even if Dante hadn’t been interested in it himself, Nero kept Dante reading, too. Not that children’s books were any challenge for him anymore, but he loved spending time with his son like this. Most times Vergil would find them then too, wrapping himself around Dante while he was reading and sometimes they’d all find themselves in a big pile, falling asleep after the book was over.

These things kept Dante going, made him actually proud of what he was able to accomplish. He’d be ready now, he had made sure his son wouldn’t have to be embarrassed about his father.

  
At least not for this. 


End file.
